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Comment: mission possible for the Met chief
Evening Standard6 Jun 2008
Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has less than two years left of his present tenure, after which he may be reappointed or allowed to step down. He will not decide whether to ask for an extension until the second half of 2009. In his interview with this paper today, he lays out priorities for the time he has left.
Sir Ian's position is not easy because he was so closely associated with the last Mayor, Ken Livingstone and because of the lingering effect on his reputation of the Jean Charles de Menezes shooting. It will be a Conservative mayor and just possibly a Conservative Home Secretary who decide whether to reappoint him. Terrorism apart, Sir Ian is attempting to position the Met to take a tougher line on several issues of public concern.
Drug use is an obvious problem. When celebrities are seen to take drugs with impunity, that sends a message to young people that it is easy to get away with breaking the law. Crown Prosecution Service lawyers are often reluctant to bring cases against well-known individuals who are photographed taking drugs, on the grounds that they cannot be absolutely certain the powder concerned is not talcum powder. Sir Ian rightly points out that a sensible jury will know what to make of such pictures.
He is also taking to heart the criticism of the police following the murder of 15-year-old Arsema Dawit. The police had been told of a stalker but did not follow up the complaints promptly. Now Sir Ian has ordered a review of other unsolved cases of harassment and assault. That is a reasonable response but as a key witness has revealed she still has not been interviewed, Sir Ian must also ensure officers on the Dawit case are kept up to the mark.
As for youth crime, Sir Ian points out that some categories of violent offences have gone down. But as the trend towards ever younger victims of knife crime became established, the Met was too slow to respond. The recent initiative on knife crime, Blunt 2, marks a real escalation in police response but it has got under way later than it should have.
Sir Ian's tenure in office will be judged in part on the success of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams, on which he has set much store, but most of all by his ability to get results from extra police on the streets, particularly on youth crime. He still has time to show he can make a difference.
Reader views (1)
I am afraid that both serving officers and retired ones like me will despair at another typical example of posturing by this appalling self publicist. What it is more, it shows either a lack of professional knowledge or an indolent view of evidence gathering. Has he not heard of reasonable grounds for obtaining a search warrant? Has Ms Winehouse(for instance) given the Police ample grounds that she may have Class A drugs at her home or on her person? A robust Police response has been possible with current powers, but as ever, under his 'leadership', has failed to materialise. He now has the gall to come out with this ridiculous drivel. If ever a Chief Officer should be shown the door, it is Sir Ian Blair. Will any politician, local or national, have the nerve to bring this about?
- Christopher Watts, London SW1, 06/06/2008 13:05
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